Mitral Valve Thickening

[meggzi07]

Hi All-

To make this short, I am a 26 yo female. My mother passed away in 1999 from a sudden heart attack in her sleep. As far as we all thought she was in good health. Well I want to monitor my heart health of course. I went to a cardiologist back in 2009 because I experienced heart palpitations and had a haltermonitoring system put on me over night and I had a stress test done as well as a echogram on my heart. Well the stress test came back fine and the EKG monitoring came back fine also. I believe I was having the palpitations because of stress at the time because I haven't had them since. The only thing she found was mitral valve thickening and she didn't say anything was wrong. I am young and haven't had any symptoms whatsoever, so question is: do i need to schedule another exam just to check things over? Do I need to worry about the thickening? When does mitral valve thickening start becoming a problem if any and what are the symptoms? I am just trying to figure out what to do!

Thanks!

[daribm]

Hello Niin

Same problem here. The more we think about the more depressed we become. Some day we all have to taste death. So forget about it and enjoy life.
You can be active in sports and eat good food.

[niin]

26 Yr Old male...Suffering from Chest Pain, Chest Discomfort and like insects moving beneath the chest and water is moving under the chest , diziness/light headedness..My BP stays almost 140/90.. Went to ECG, 2D Echo, and TMT ... All were normal except THICK MITRAL VALVE with MILD MR ..MVP was normal... Doc sent me back stating nothing is reqd to be done..
Could anyone contribute to this ???

[cindy707]

Thanks for replying meggzi and i am glad i could help out.  At the end of the day what i would do is to call the doc that originally diagnosed the issue and ask them specifically what they want you to be aware of because ONLY the doc knows your entire medical hx., meds you are on etc. and takes that all into consideration when giving you an overview of your individual situation.  Sometimes its not in your best interest to lump yourself in w. general indicators of a  specific disease and when that happens it can be very scary on what info is given to you on the internet...your situ may be very very different the generalized info and may just scare the daylights out of you where what you read is not at all your case.  We are all individuals and cannot be lumped into a specific generalization and especially w. your dx. and history of your family.  I would def. call the doc...ask them to tell you what the red flags you are supposed to look out for etc.  Alot will depend on the mm the thickening, if there is a prolapse involved and if so at what percentage, all sorts of questions that only your doc knows the answers to.....even if you have moved out of the area they still have your chart, all of the results, and i would make sure that once you have found a new doc in the area you now live in that you request that those records be forwarded to the new doc.....good luck w. this and you have an absolutely wonderful attitude......

[meggzi07]

Cindy-

Thanks for the information and advice! I knew that I was in a higher risk group because of my mother. I don't think we ever really found out the real reason why she had one because she was adopted and never met her real family, so we do not know if she had any hereditary factors (i am sure she did) but she was not over weight but she was a big smoker. Smoked for more than half her life, so I do think that is a huge contributing factor. I do not smoke, my blood pressure and all other testing, such as choloesterol, etc are all in line and I am not overweight and my BMI is normal. I think I am doing pretty good so far. I didn't have to do the stress test or anything, but I did and it was good. I also exercise, etc.
I plan on having an annual exam with a cardiologist, but because I just moved I am waiting on my previous records from my cardiologist and I will find a new one here in Arkansas.
I think I am being very proactive, but sometimes I worry myself so much I feel like that is all I think about, is my heart and health.

I have never had any shortness of breath, chest pains, or anything. The only reason why I went to a cardiologist in the first place was because I was experiencing palpitations, which were from stress at the time, I haven't experienced them since.
thanks again!

I guess I wanted to know more about what I need to watch for with Mitral Valve Thickening and if it gets worse, etc.